


Brown Coat

by ChillyHollow



Category: Cormoran Strike Series - Robert Galbraith
Genre: Gen, Surveillance, compassion - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:34:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26251999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChillyHollow/pseuds/ChillyHollow
Summary: Strike feels compassion for the object of his surveillance.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 21





	Brown Coat

The man in the brown tweed coat turned up his collar against the cold, leaned against the iron railing and pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket.He lit up and took a deep breath of nicotine, blowing out the smoke slowly.It swirled around his head, wreathing him in a halo of gray in the late afternoon chill.

Smoking was a comfort to him, gave him something to do with his big hands, and it was a good excuse to loiter in areas where he was watching someone covertly.That’s what he was doing tonight on this posh street in Belgravia, following a man whose wife thought he was cheating on her.The man was in a restaurant, sitting on a stool at the bar, obviously waiting for someone.Since he’d told his wife he was meeting co-workers to plan an upcoming conference, this looked like a good chance to catch him out in a lie while he met with the person he’s cheating on his wife with.

The man in the brown coat looked around the area, wondering if he could spot a potential lover, and noticed a Land Rover parked a short distance away.A blonde was locking the driver’s door.She headed into the restaurant.She was a little plump, but with long wavy hair that was quite pretty.The hair combined with the fact she drove a Land Rover made him think of his blonde business partner, who also drove one, but a much older model.This Land Rover looked nearly new.He checked the window of the restaurant and discovered that the blonde had joined his mark at the bar.He took a covert photo of them together, the man’s hand on hers, then took a photo of the Land Rover, making sure to capture the registration plate in the frame so he could check the blonde driver out later.He turned his back to the car, resting his bulk on the railing, smoking. 

Inside the restaurant the man was talking earnestly to the blonde at the bar.The waiter brought them drinks and went away again.The man in the brown coat finished his cigarette, then walked over to the nearby coffee shop and bought himself a coffee.He sat at one of the coffee shop’s outside tables with his purchase, slowly sipping the large black coffee, trying to remember when coffee had started costing two pounds a cup minimum.Instant was getting more expensive, too.As he pondered, he kept his eyes on the restaurant opposite, so he noticed right away when his mark got up to leave.The blonde stayed put as the man walked out. 

The man in the brown coat checked his watch.They’d been inside less than fifteen minutes.He made a sudden decision, dumping his coffee cup in the bin, then crossing the road and entering the restaurant.He walked up to the bar, next to the empty spot beside the blonde with the Land Rover, and ordered a beer from the busy bartender.Then it was natural for him to look at his neighbor, the blonde, who was dabbing at her eyes with a tissue.“Are you all right?”he asked. 

“No,” she said.“My boyfriend just dumped me.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, and he was.She looked like a nice girl, a little plain, a little plump, but with pretty hair and hazel eyes.“Can I get you another drink?”

“Sure,” she said, with an air of not caring whether she had a new drink or not.He gestured at the bartender and a new white wine appeared like magic in front of the blonde.She downed it in two gulps.He was a little alarmed.“Don’t you want to get something to eat?” he asked.“It’s not wise to drink that much that fast on an empty stomach.”

“I want to kill that bastard,” she said.“I knew he had a reputation of seducing all the women in the company one by one, then dumping them to move on to the next, but he was so charming….”She blew her nose defiantly. 

“How long were you together?” he asked. 

“Just two months.It was a nice two months, though.I’ve never had a boyfriend before, not a real one.” 

He made up his mind.He knew damn well that this wasn’t a good idea but he didn’t want to leave her alone here in this state.“Come on, I’m buying you dinner.”He caught a passing waiter and asked to be seated.She followed him listlessly to a table for two.He asked her what she wanted to eat.She said she wasn’t hungry.So he ordered two turkey club sandwiches with crisps on the side.When the waiter took their order to the kitchen he asked, “What’s your name?”

“Lacy.”

“I’m Cormoran.”

“Nice to meet you, Cormoran.”She was well-brought up and polite, this girl, even when miserable. 

“Where do you work, Lacy?”She told him.It was indeed the firm where his target was a senior partner.“But I’m leaving.I won’t stay there with that bastard working down the hall.”

“What do you do?” he asked, just to keep things moving along until the food came and he could get her to eat. 

“I’m a PA.Papa said I need to see something of the real world so I took this job, to have something to do and make him proud.” 

“Lacy, in the real world broken hearts mend.”

“How would you know?”

“My ex cheated on me even though we were engaged.I broke it off with her and she got engaged to someone else two weeks later.”

“Oh,” she looked at him with those red-rimmed hazel eyes.“I’m sorry.”

“I got over it.So will you.Come on, eat your sandwich.”Gradually he coaxed her to eat the food that their waiter had delivered.He got some water into her, too.Then he ordered them each a slice of chocolate cake with chocolate icing and coffee.She managed to eat most of her cake, drank more water and then drank her coffee.

“This was nice, Cormoran.I don’t feel so bad.I am more angry now.He’s married, isn’t he?”

“I suspect he is,” the man with the brown coat said cautiously.“What do you think?”

“Now that I think back, he probably is.We never went to his place and I never met any of his family and friends.There were always phone calls that he took in another room when he came to my flat.He said they were from work but…. I’ve been so stupid!You think I’d know better.Papa warned me that folks would be after me for my money.”

“Are you rich, Lacy?”

“I’ve got a trust fund from Grandpa.” 

“I don’t think he was after your money.Sounds like he just is a collector of women.You said he had the reputation for seducing and abandoning co-workers where you work?”

“Yes, that’s the scuttlebutt around the office.Of course I didn’t want to believe bad things of anyone, especially someone that charming.I won’t trust anyone ever again.”

“You will.You’ll just be more discerning.Come on, I need to get you a cab.”

“I have my car outside.”

“You’re not driving after all that alcohol.You can pick the car up tomorrow.”He paid the bill and left a tip for the waiter, then guided his charge out onto the sidewalk.He flagged down a cab and as he ushered her into it, she grabbed his heavy brown wool sleeve and whispered, “Come with me?Please!”

He sighed and got in the cab after her.The driver took them to a street full of expensive flats inside marble and granite buildings.Strike got out and told the driver to wait while he escorted her to her door.She fumbled for her key until he took it from her and unlocked her door.She stepped inside, looked back and him and whispered, “Thank you.”He gave her a smile, suggested she take water and paracetamol to bed for the morning, and shut the door, making sure it locked after he closed it.

He walked down the steps to the waiting cab, which he had take him to the nearby train station as he’d already spent more than he should have on dinner for two and a taxi, then headed home to his little flat, thinking for once of Lacy instead of his own troubles and hoping that she’d be ok eventually.Back at his place, the man in the brown coat looked up Lacy Harrington’s plate number, noted her address, and decided he’d not tell his client who her husband was cheating with. After all, it was over.Instead, he’d send his brother Al, who lived two houses from Lacy, over to introduce himself.He laughed a little at himself playing Cupid as he hung his brown coat on the hook by the door.Cormoran Strike, matchmaker.It was ridiculous.

Back at the expensive flat Lacy took paracetamol with water, and went to bed, thinking of her knight in shining armor instead of her ex-boyfriend."Did chivalrous knights come in brown winter coats these days?” she thought fuzzily before falling asleep to dream of sad brown eyes in a stern face.


End file.
